America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story

Feiler traces the uses to which the character Moses has been put during the entire American experience - from the Pilgrims to the Civil Rights movement. His prose is eminently readable and enjoyable, and his history is accurate. More impressive, his research strategies exceed the traditional techniques of library search; he goes into unusual places (like the crown of the Statue of Liberty or a home on the Ohio River that was a stop on the Underground Railroad) and emerges with novel and frequently amusing insights and anecdotes. This is a wonderful book that every American ought to read.

I was delighted that a book I learned about from Diane Rehm's interview December 22, 2009 with Bruce Feiler, is such an extraordinary read. Well organized, so that each chapter could stand on its, with a personal narrative woven throughout, Feiler draws the major American cultural and historical events connected to Moses -- in Egypt, at Pesach, around the Golden Calf, and at Mt. Nebo. Particularly challenging to some will be the reflections on Martin Luther King, Jr., perhaps because we are still so close to him so that living witnesses abound, and perhaps because, as Feiler notes, there is a considerable cultural mythologizing practice going on around the memory and meaning of MLK. For most of his other material, there is enough historical distance so that even those who disagree with his interpretations can, nonetheless, read, ponder, and go away being little disturbed. He draws the Puritans close and the Beecher family even closer. He reenacts the midnight winter passage across the Ohio River and tries to live into the contemporary meaning-making around the Underground Railroad. There are, of course, many other cultural connections and claims made upon Moses; but Feiler beautifully focuses his lens on a handful of significant periods and events in American history. I'll probably preach and teach from insights and facts crammed into this book for the next twenty years. I highly recommend this book for reflective reading, for group study, and for consideration in your family's or community's next iteration of the haggadah.

"America's Prophet" is probably one of the most original and though provoking books in recent memory, falling clearly into the realm of history of ideas, philosophy, history of philosophy, and religion, but even those categories are far too limiting. Feiler's hypothesis is that Moses serves as America's prophet, the guiding spirit of the American experience and the driving force from colonial times to the present. Ponder that for a moment. Think of the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and the Cavaliers; all set out in search of the promised land, a sense of fulfillment and destiny, a land to reshape and refashion in their image. It certainly sounds biblical doesn't it? From Governor Winthrop's "Shining City on a Hill" to the present many American political and spiritual leaders have reverberated the ideas of Moses, the Exodus, the wandering in the desert, and deliverance into the Promised Land. Whether it is the early Mayflower passengers, fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or the American Civil War, the United States continuously echoes with refrains from Moses. Moses becomes the quintessential American touchstone, unifying force, and shared touchstone. The idea sounds a little farfetched until you start reading and then you realize the one continuing thread through American history is the recurring theme of Moses. In many respects "America's Prophet" reminds me greatly of Louis Menand's wonderful The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America which won the Pulitzer Prize some years ago. Like Menand, Feiler is making some pretty large claims here, but if you can get past the usual complaints of "American Exceptionalism" that might likely arise, "America's Prophet" is VERY enjoyable and will certainly get you think about the influence the Mosaic passages from the Bible has had, and continues to have, on our nation. Rather than being hard to follow like many books on philosophy or the history of ideas, Feiler is easy to follow for the layman, and quite enjoyable as well as profoundly thought provoking!

What do the Puritans, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, the Statue of Liberty, Cecil B. DeMille, and Martin Luther King Jr. have in common? Moses. In America's Prophet, Bruce Feiler reveals the Mosaic thread that weaves its way through the tapestry of American history. Along the way, we see a Jewish history becoming the American story becoming a universal narrative of hope. The book is utterly engrossing, and I recommend it highly. The American appropriation of Moses begins with the Puritans. They viewed King James as Pharaoh, themselves as the Children of Israel, and the New World as the Promised Land. But if the sailing of the Mayflower was their exodus, the signing of the Mayflower Compact was their Sinai. Moses was not only a liberator, he was a lawgiver. The twin Mosaic themes of freedom and responsibility recur again and again in the American story. George Washington, for example, both led his people out of British tyranny and into constitutional responsibility. Martin Luther King Jr. both led African Americans out of Jim Crow segregation and into the "beloved community." The Moses narrative has spoken powerfully to the American people because, historically speaking, they have been nominally Christian and biblically literate. The Civil War was, in some ways, a theological dispute. Would Moses side with the abolitionists and lead the slaves in an Exodus toward freedom? Or would he side with the slaveholders, since the Sinai law accommodated slavery? Debates couldn't settle the question; only war could. And at the end of it, Abraham Lincoln was acclaimed as yet another Moses. So was Martin Luther King Jr. who led the way for the full integration of African Americans into American society that the Civil War only inaugurated. And like Moses, who went only as far as Nebo and never made it into the Promised Land, King himself would never experience the substantial progress made on his dream after his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee. But on the eve of his death, speaking at Mason Temple, he nevertheless said: "I have seen the promised land. And I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the promised land." America was not just a Promised Land for African Americans. It was also a Promised Land for immigrants, many of them Jews fleeing eastern European pogroms, who sailed into New York Harbor under the watchful eye of Lady Liberty. Feiler points out the substantial Mosaic influence on even the architecture of this icon, but also through the words of Emma Lazarus' poem, "New Colossus." In addition to the influence of the Mosaic narrative on politics, Feiler considers its influence in popular culture. Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston, was a Cold War battle cry, calling America to submit itself to God's will rather than Communist tyranny. Paramount studios even financed the placement of granite 10 Commandments monuments on courthouse lawns throughout Americ

Once again, Bruce Feiler has done a remarkable job of taking us on a journey through a topic most authors would never think of pursuing. Who would ever think of Moses as being America's prophet? Yet, Feiler takes us from our very beginnings with the Pilgrims up to the present day. When he finishes his account there will be no doubt in your mind as to how influential Moses was to our country's foundation, moral thought and positive direction. Many people have difficulty accepting our nation's Judeo-Christian roots yet I believe in reading this book you will see that input regardless of your religious beliefs. The author takes a number of bench marks in our history and through some very good research shows us how each event ties into the life, teachings, and dreams of Moses. I think it helps to have some knowledge of the Bible to make Feiler's account more understandable. Yet, even without that, the reader can still see the tie in to each main character and event. No doubt, the story of Moses and his search for deliverance and freedom affected the Pilgrims, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and almost all of our presidents. Feiler expands on these few events and characters and how they drew upon the teachings and direction of Moses as he led his people to freedom, law and morality. This is an excellent account of history most of us never touch upon. I have to agree...Moses could be called America's Prophet.